Yankees Slugger’s Surprising Return To NY Headlines Record-Breaking Day In MLB
To the surprise of many people around Major League Baseball, New York Yankees outfielder Trent Grisham is reportedly accepting his $22.025 million qualifying offer for the 2026 season, meaning that Grisham will remain with the Yankees (per New York Post‘s Jon Heyman).
Notably, Heyman also clarified that Grisham’s return does not affect New York’s continued pursuit to re-sign outfielder Cody Bellinger, which Yankees GM Brian Cashman identified as a top priority last week.
Grisham was one of four players announced on Tuesday who reportedly accepted their qualifying offers, an MLB record, according to USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale. Joining Grisham in accepting their QO’s were Brandon Woodruff (Milwaukee Brewers), Shota Imanaga (Chicago Cubs), and Gleyber Torres (Detroit Tigers).
Grisham’s decision is definitely surprising. Many Yankees pundits estimated that Grisham was going to land something in the realm of a two-year, $35 million deal on the market had he declined the QO (a recent estimate from MLB Network‘s Sean Casey).
Grisham’s surprising decision to return to the Yankes also has many fans and analysts disappointed, despite Grisham’s productive year in 2025.
Grisham’s 34 home runs, .811 OPS and 125 OPS+ in 2025 were all career-highs. Was this the start of Grisham’s prime (he just turned 29 on November 1), or was it simply an outlier year for a lifetime.720 OPS hitter with 104 career homers?
Yankees fans are obviously hoping for the former, but Cashman may have just made his first error of the offseason by extending the QO to Grisham.
Grisham’s range in center field has already begun to decline with his athleticism, and many people assumed that stud prospect Spencer Jones would enter New York’s outfield situation in a big way in 2026.
Suddenly, the Yanks’ outfield situation is less clear. Maybe in the end, Bellinger will also re-sign, and New York will roll with the identical outfield from 2025.